Until a ceramic ware is completed, it requires many processes such as molding a figure out of clay, baking it, putting glaze on it, placing it in a kiln, and so on. In the same way, until a life is born, it takes a process of being created in the womb for nine months.

The process of effort is required to complete something in this visible, physical world. Likewise, in the spiritual world, God continues to work to make us perfect. Every Sabbath day, God blesses us and gives us new strength so that we may not be lacking in anything as citizens of heaven. Thinking of the love of God, let's remind ourselves of the meaning and significance of the Sabbath.

Keeping the Sabbath changes spiritual sinners to be holy

We were born on this earth because we sinned in heaven. So, Jesus said He came to this earth to seek and save the lost.

Mt 9:13 " . . . For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Lk 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Jesus used to pray very early in the morning, and He never stopped preaching to find the lost. It was because the ultimate purpose of Christ's life on this earth was to save human beings.

As Jesus said He came to save the "lost," we were originally angels who used to be with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven. The book of Isaiah definitely shows us what kind of sin we committed in heaven.

Isa 14:12-14 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

Lucifer, son of the dawn, harbored an evil intent to raise his throne above that of God and make himself like the Most High. In other words, Satan, the devil, became a criminal opposing God and numerous angels who were tempted by Satan joined him in his rebellion against God. As a result, they were all cast down to this earth. We are the spiritual sinners who lost our discretion and opposed God unknowingly. So, our supreme task on this earth is to receive the forgiveness of sins so that we can go back to heaven.

God established a covenant to bring us back to our senses and restore us to our original state. The Sabbath is a covenant God has made with us, human beings, which is one of God's commandments.

Ge 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Ex 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. . . . For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

The Sabbath is a day God made His promise to make His people holy and to give them blessings from the creation of the world. It is also a day given as an opportunity for us to commemorate the authority of the Creator and to understand God correctly. On this holy day, God cleanses us from our sin and rebellion we committed against God unknowingly and purifies our hearts.

God has given us the Sabbath as the fourth of the Ten Commandments, and told us not to forget the Sabbath day but remember it by keeping it holy. When we are made holy and pure by keeping the Sabbath, we can restore our spiritual senses and come to salvation, resisting the temptation of Lucifer, son of the dawn. God continues to make us holy every Sabbath day, even while we are unaware of it.

The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people

The Sabbath is a precious law given only to the people of God. God distin-guishes His people from others and consecrates them through the Sabbath.

Ex 31:13-15 "Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.' "

In the Old Testament times, God commanded the Israelites to kill anyone who desecrated the Sabbath. This shows God's definite will for the Sabbath, and also contains God's intention to save us by consecrating us.

Therefore, the Sabbath is one of God's commandments, which we must not forget or neglect. God has given us the Sabbath not to trouble us, but to give us life by reminding us of the spiritual state we were in when we were tempted by Lucifer and giving us insight into what is sin and what is righteousness and good.

Eze 20:11-12 "I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the LORD made them holy."

The Sabbath is a definite sign for recognizing God's people. By keeping the Sabbath, God's people come to know God who makes them holy, and God acknowledges those who keep the Sabbath as His people.

God blesses the people who remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy and opens the way for them to enter eternal rest. So, without keeping the Sabbath, no one can receive the blessing of eternal life or salvation. Keeping in mind the importance of the Sabbath which is a sign between God and us, we should have fellowship with God in godliness and honor God as His people.

Satan opposes God by hindering people from keeping the Sabbath

God has established the law of the Sabbath to save us, but Satan the devil deceives the souls by lies in order to lead even one more soul to death. As a result, so many people in the world have lost their discretion, and they have been despising God's law and neglecting the law of life established by God.

Eze 20:16 "because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols."

Eze 22:23-27 Again the word of the LORD came to me: " . . . There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain."

False prophets who violate the laws of God are trying to devour people's souls like roaring lions or wolves. They have even changed the laws and regulations established by God, and are hindering God's providence of salvation and tempting people around the world not to have the right mindset of faith. God is greatly enraged against them.

God says He is profaned among those who do not keep the Sabbath while claiming to believe in Him. 2,000 years ago, when Jesus came to this earth in order to save human beings, the chief priests, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, who claimed to believe in God, insulted Jesus and persecuted Him. The same thing happens even in this age. So-called Christian leaders denounce God as a heretic and treat God's people who keep the commandments of God as those who walk the wrong path of faith.

Those who despise the Sabbath and desecrate it cannot obtain the correct wisdom and knowledge of God no matter how long they have attended church. Once they are deceived by Satan, they are unable to get out of him by themselves. It is because they can't have the right understanding of God until they are enlightened to their mistakes and sins through God's laws and are made holy.

Da 7:24-25 "The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time."

Lucifer, son of the dawn, opposed God the Most High and tempted many of the angels in heaven. On this earth, too, he still tempts many people and leads them to oppose God and dishonors God. Today, so many churches around the world, claiming to serve God, keep Sunday, and even though some of them adopt the Sabbath as a day of worship, they do not actually keep the Sabbath of the Bible. We need to discern what kind of people in this age are spiritually like those who ridiculed and persecuted Jesus 2,000 years ago.

The commands of God are radiant, giving light to the eyes (Ps 19:8). We can discern if a church follows the Bible through whether or not it keeps the Sabbath, and we can also understand what kind of people God leads to the path of salvation.

The apostles followed Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath

God is the source of our faith. When we follow God's teachings and examples exactly, we can be said to have true faith.

Mt 12:6-8 ". . . For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Jesus says that He is the Lord of the Sabbath who has established the Sabbath and given it to us. In the days of the early Church, Jesus personally showed the example of keeping the Sabbath as was His custom. It's because the Sabbath serves as a standard for discerning the will of God rightly.

Lk 4:16-21 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." . . .

The Sabbath is a law of Jesus. Through the Sabbath, God cleanses our hearts and souls from all impurities and promises that we will be able to store up more gracious and greater blessings in the invisible spiritual world. Through this power which we cannot see with our eyes or feel with our hands, the kingdom of God advances and the way to salvation is opened.

So, the apostles, following Jesus' example, kept the Sabbath every week.

Ac 17:2-3 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said.

Ac 18:4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Every Sabbath day, we receive God's teachings through the Bible. So did the Apostle Paul. Every Sabbath, he preached the Word in the synagogue and persuaded the people there. Moreover, Jesus says in the book of Matthew, "Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath." By saying that, Jesus tells us that the Sabbath must be remembered and observed even until the Day of Judgment (Mt 24:20-21).

We should hold fast to the Sabbath, which God has given us as a law of life. If God's promise through the Sabbath were not given to us, we would be in the darkness of Babylon and walk in blind faith, not knowing the love and blessings granted by God.

God tells us, His people, to come out of Babylon quickly, so that we will not share in her sins and will not receive any of her plagues (Rev 18:4). We, who have heard God's calling and come back to Zion, should give more thanks and glory to Elohim who bless us in Zion through the Sabbath. In addition, we should run to the people who misunderstand that they serve God rightly, while they do not keep the Sabbath, and let them know that Heavenly Father and Mother, the Lords of the Sabbath, have come down to this earth, so that they can be cleansed from all impurities with the water of life.